Pair of suspects held in ‘short and tall’ robberies

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Ray Faar and Bryan Alexander were arrested on Market Street Sunday afternoon after robbing a business on Mission Street earlier in the day.

Two men have been arrested in connection with a series of 11 holdups at San Francisco businesses since mid-August, according to police.

Dubbed the “short guy, tall guy” robbery series because of the suspects’ height disparity — with one standing about 5 feet 6 inches and the other around 5 feet 11 inches — the robberies occurred between Aug. 19 and Sept. 16, police announced Friday.

Ray Faar, 40, of San Francisco, and Bryan Alexander, 48, of Daly City, were arrested Sept. 16 in the 1000 block of Market Street on suspicion of committing at least 11 robberies at various city restaurants, phone stores and even a hot tub establishment, including a business in the 3100 block of Mission Street on the day of their arrests, police said.

In all 11 robberies, the suspects allegedly entered the businesses near closing time and pretended to be customers. Alexander would allegedly stand back as a lookout, while Faar allegedly jumped onto or walked behind the counter to rob the employees of their cellphones before taking money from the cash register, according to police.

During the robberies, Faar was apparently armed with a handgun and Alexander moved the victims to the back of the store and ordered the victims to not follow the pair or they would be shot, according to police.

Faar and Alexander were booked on charges of robbery with a gun, conspiracy and possession of stolen property, according to police.

Alexander, a parolee, was also charged with a parole violation, while Faar was also charged with possession of methamphetamines.

Investigators from the Police Department’s criminal investigations unit tracked down the pair after they matched a description of robbers that victims described at the business in the 3100 block of Mission Street, according to police.